With graduation season in effect, we take a look at some life lessons brought to us by Kanye West's classic "College Dropout."

Kanye West unleashed College Dropout in 2004 - the album, a hip-hop staple, was a satire of the American education system and I was just 13 years old. Frankly, I’m not entirely sure how I even knew of the album. I do remember though, standing adamantly against a wall of a Virgin Records store, listening to the album, and it was quickly burned to a CD upon my arrival home.

Listening to College Dropout I didn't understand a majority of the content, but it was absolutely mesmerizing. I had no idea why this Talib Kweli guy was so important and didn’t even realize “School Spirit” was actually about school. Later on I relistened to the album in college, and it all came together. After leaving my undergraduate career, I truly appreciated College Dropout - the skits, the arrogance, the guest appearances, and the platform Kanye created, streaming between 50 Cent’s Get Rich Or Die Trying and Talib Kweli’s Just to Get By.

Last month Kanye accepted an honorary doctorate from the School of Art Institute of Chicago. During his acceptance speech, an older, more mature Yeezy admitted that his prior projects would have been easier with a degree, but we also know the downsides of those diplomas and what it took to get there.

The skits among many tracks from the album (although highly criticized) resonate fiercely with young students, as Kanye geniously breaks down the humour that is higher education, alongside comedian Deray Davis. These album breaks acted as glue, cementing the records of the album together to create the theme, College Dropout.

As millennials, we learn a lot from the album, in particular the whole gripe that is attending college while making it out alive. Kanye’s raps provide a critical framework in analyzing the pursuit of college, materialism, racism, and the music business. Ten years later, with the cost of college thousands more, the album continues to grow in relevance each day.

Regardless, Kanye’s rhymes and Davis's skits will prepare you for the possibilities of life after college and at least provide some good laughs, whether or not you got that diploma. Let’s take a look at what College Dropout taught us about the value of a degree and the life lessons that come with them.

All Falls Down

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“Man I promise, she’s so self-conscious, she had no idea what she’s doing in college. That major that she majored in don’t make no money but she won’t drop out, her parents will look at her funny. Now, tell me that ain’t insecurr, the concept of school seems so secure. Sophomore, three yurrs, ain’t picked a carurr. She like, fuck it, I’ll just stay down here and do hair.”

Every fall thousands of kids enter college, just three months shy after receiving their high school diploma. College, among other things is idealized as the security blanket of the American Dream, yet it often leaves us financially insecure and unsure of the future. Many fear without the diploma they won’t get that job, which granted holds weight, but doesn't necessarily promise a career either.

No matter what stage of life you're in, let Kanye’s words echo in the back of your mind; embrace your insecurities and think for yourself. Never let anyone make you feel insecure about your major or how many times you ended up changing it. Plus, the chances that anyone will still be interested in pursuing the major they chose at the ripe age of 19 is slim.

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Get Em High

“My teacher said I'se a loser, I told her why don't you kill me I give a fuck if you fail me. I'm gonna follow my heart and if you follow the charts, or the plaques or the stacks, you ain't gotta guess who's back.”

Faculty have a major impact on young people, which is why it is so detrimental when they doubt their intelligence and ignore other areas they accelerate in. Just because you failed that unnecessary course, you were forced to take (probably the Study of Rocks), you’re no loser. Through life, there will always be a teacher, a boss, or haters in general who will try to put you down-- don’t let them get to you.

There are so many stigmas of becoming a college dropout. Even if you give college your all, it just may not be for you, and sometimes it’s best to trust your gut. If you are already doing your thing (like Kanye was) regardless of college, the real world might be the best option.

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School Spirit Skit 1

"So you finish college and it's wonderful. You feel so good and after all the partying and craziness and don't forget about that drug habit you picked up at school from being around your peers!

If you continue to work at the Gap after several job interviews, oh my God, you'll come in at a entry-level position. And if you do that, if you kiss enough ass, you'll move up to the next level, which is being the secretary's secretary. And boy is that great. You can take messages for the secretary, who NEVER went to college, she's actually the boss' niece! So now you're part of the family."

Here is the thing-- that drinking schedule you had going on in college, post graduation-- we call that alcoholism. All these habits you picked up aren't too hot when you're applying for jobs and they hit you with that drug test notification so watch out. College emphasizes this alternate universe, where campuses are essentially playgrounds for young adults.

This second part, is, the struggle after college is real. So many graduates go back to working at the same job they worked at in high school or even college, taking anything they can get after those loan repayment plans start coming in your mailbox. Nothing is more painful than committing four or five years to a piece of paper, to wind up working long hours folding khakis for some incompetent manager. Plus while we apply to other jobs or work on that side hustle, those grueling hours feel like an infinite waste of time.

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School Spirit

"Told ‘em I finished school and I started my own business. They say 'Oh you graduated?' No, I decided I was finished. Chasing y’all dreams and what you’ve got planned, now I spit it so hot, you got tanned. Back to school and I hate it there, I hate it there. Everything I want, I gotta wait a year, I wait a year. This nigga graduated at the top of our class, I went to Cheesecake, he was a motherfucking waiter there."

This record embodies a rich darkness brought to life from samples of Aretha Franklin’s “Spirit in the Dark.” The sample perfectly fits the chorus in Kanye’s references to Black Greek life, dropping names like Alpha Kappa Alpha and Sigma Gamma Rho, and maybe even shade to Omega Psi Phi.

Going to college shouldn't be an automatic decision. Paying a hundred grand to chase your parents or anyone else’s dreams should never be the standard. The business Kanye is referring to is Kanman Production. Kanye created the company to manage his own beats and production which eventually evolved in G.O.O.D. Music. Countless other entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg, Russell Simmons, and Steve Jobs all left college early to create their companies and begin their own success outside the classroom. Not to say everyone should vie to become a college dropout, but that degree can also act a deterrent for launching your success on your own time and terms.

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School Spirit Skit 2

"You keep those books rolling! You pick up all those books that you're gonna read, that you're not gonna remember and you keep it rolling! - When everyone says 'Hey, you're not working, you're not making any money,' you say, 'You look at my degrees, and you look at my life.' Yeah, I'm 52! So What? I'm smart, I'm so smart and I'm in school. All these guys out here making money other ways and I'm spending mine to be smart!"

Gotta love the hundreds many have spent on all those books, especially the books you told were required but never actually used. The problem with college is that so many of us are immensely overwhelmed with work, that we take the shortcuts in class. By that we mean spending all our energy on doing well in classes as opposed to taking the time to learn, enjoy, and absorb what were being taught.

The second emphasis of this song is the epitome that has become graduate school. So many of us graduate, and feel stuck in the job market. We can't find anything. More school is not necessarily the answer. Sure degrees are prestigious, but they don't signify money or repayments for your student loans. If anything, all graduate school does is delay loans, which may seem great for the time being-- but you still have to repay them. The lesson is, making money is no less prestigious than getting another degree. If you don't plan on staying in academia, there's no use in going after degree and degree, just so you can frame them on your wall.

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Lil Jimmy Skit

"My Dad died, and he left me his degrees. These are documented, my father left them for me, and I'm going to leave them to my kids. I'm going to learn too. I'm going to get super smart, so I, too, can die without money, but I'll be the smartest dead guy!"

THE degree. We worked so hard for it, four or plus years built up for this piece of paper, just so we can Instagram it and frame it for our parents! Student loans are a reality for millennials, unlike our parents generation. Sure, our parents might have had loans, but the cost of college is no where near as expensive as it is today. We carry our student loans like never-ending baggage. Although meant to sound cryptic in the skit, this comedic situation could become a reality. Leaving student loan debt to our children and family members? Don’t let it happen to you!

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Through The Wire

"What if somebody from the Chi' that was ill got a deal on the hottest rap label around? But he wasn't talking about coke and birds, it was more like spoken word except he's really putting it down? And he explained the story about how Blacks came from glory and what we need to do in the game. Good dude, bad night, right place wrong time, in the blink of a eye, his whole life changed."

If you think those four years you put in were short, remember not to lose sight that life can be even shorter. Kanye recorded "Through The Wire" two short weeks after a car accident that should have left him dead. With a reminder that life never gives us any warning, Kanye was impacted by the accident in the most positive way. He put in an even more rigorous work flow and felt more inspired than ever to finish what he was meant to do. Kanye knew he was alive to drop a classic and create an album unlike anything out in the game.

Don't forget this lesson: College does bless us, if we're lucky enough, to be exposed to different people, ideologies, and possibilities. For those of us who find what it is that makes us happy, what we excel at, or the resources to eventually find it, don't wait on it. It may entirely change after college regardless, for some people it takes years. For these reasons, don’t waste your time once you have found your calling.

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Last Call

"Ain’t nobody expect Kanye to end up on top, they expected that College Dropout to drop and then flop. - Now I could let these dream killers kill my self-esteem or use my arrogance as the steam to power my dreams. So I don’t listen to the suits behind the desk no more, you niggas wear suits cause you can’t dress no more. You can’t say shit to Kanye West no more, I rocked 20,000 people I was just on tour."

Easily, one of the greatest take aways from the albums is to follow your dreams, with or without college. Sure everyone can’t be Kanye, but that doesn’t mean you should let anyone get in the way of your ambitions. Many people doubted Kanye, because they could not fathom what he was capable of. The business pigeonholed him as another producer who was trying to turn MC, but because he believed in himself first, he came out on top. We all have dreams, just making it to college is the goal for many of us. Sometimes people won't believe in you or your story, but if you've got yourself in life, that's all you need.